The Two Ricks: Weird Science — the Wonderlic and NFL Draft evaluation

The NFL Draft is just two weeks away, and that means teams across the league are hammering down their plans and finalizing their boards for the big three-day event. But how do general managers and their staffs figure out which prospects will actually make it in the NFL?

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Rick Morrissey and Rick Telander dig into the draft evaluation process and how football teams break down prospects to the smallest details in the latest episode of “The Two Ricks: Unfiltered.

“Can you imagine, what if some guy came out there in a speedo or a thong?” Morrissey asked, just like we all we have before. “How much do you think a guy would drop?”

Morrissey and Telander also talk with Charlie Wonderlic, the president of Wonderlic, Inc., which administers the famous test given to top NFL prospects each year. How does the Wonderlic work? And what do the results really mean?

“The theory with football is … are the people that you’re selecting, are they competitive for those roles?” Wonderlic said of how the test is utilized. “Is their level of problem-solving ability in line with everyone else, or is it really different? Either on the high or the low side.”

The hosts discuss that and more with Wonderlic, whose grandfather created the original test over 80 years ago. Check it out in Episode 7 of “The Two Ricks: Unfiltered,” a weekly podcast presented by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Legendary Sun-Times sports columnists Rick Morrissey and Rick Telander are co-hosts of a new podcast called “The Two Ricks: Unfiltered.” Don’t miss their gritty, no-holds-barred takes on everything from professional teams tanking to overzealous sports parents and more. Download and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts and Google Play, or via RSS feed.